Product of the Week

Thermo Fisher Scientific

New Small Benchtop Centrifuge

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has launched a new small benchtop centrifuge to meet clinical and research needs alike.

“Centrifuges are in constant use and demand so preventing downtime and bottlenecks is crucial,” said Maurizio Merli, product director, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “With features designed for simplicity, safety and flexibility, the new small benchtop centrifuges can help scientists save time and maximize resources.”

Designed for efficient, small-scale purification and screening of histidine-tagged proteins from different sources.

GE Healthcare

His Mag Sepharose Ni products are magnetic beads designed for efficient, small-scale purification/screening of histidine-tagged proteins from different sources. Histidine-tagged proteins are captured using immobilized nickel ions followed by collection of the beads using a magnetic device. You can use magnetic beads to simplify sample handling during small-scale purification.

His Mag Sepharose Ni delivers:

High-capacity small-scale purification of histidine-tagged proteins from different sources

High purity and yield

Easy parallel screening of histidine-tagged proteins with high repeatability

Scalability—Simple capture of histidine-tagged proteins from small or large sample volumes (low microliter to milliliter scale)

Together with MagRack 6, a separation tool for handling the beads in microcentrifuge tubes, up to six samples can be processed in parallel. You can easily screen a larger number of samples in parallel with high throughput on a robotic device.

Simplified handling:

The magnetic bead format has excellent properties for small-scale experiments. The high density of the beads allows rapid capture by magnetic devices while the visibility of the beads ensures reliable collection of the bound histidine-tagged proteins in the purification procedure. The characteristics of the media are summarized in Table 1. All the products are provided with protocols optimized for purification of histidine-tagged proteins.

The first allergen kits that will be launched by the company from Potsdam, Germany, are the foodproof® Celery Detection Kit and the foodproof® Gluten Detection Kit. More allergen kits for the detection of soy, peanut and hazelnut will follow soon. In combination with the foodproof® Sample Preparation Kit III for theextraction of plant DNA, this kits allows simple and safe detection of allergens in all kind of foods. Depending on the source of literature the prevalence of food allergies is between 2 – 4 % for adults and 4 -8% for children.

The foodproof® Sample Preparation Kit III allows the extraction of highly purified DNA even from complex foods or processed matrices. To validate the foodproof® Allergen Detection Kits final products, raw materials and swab samples have been successfully tested. The kit cannot be only used for foods, finished products and raw materials, but also for cleaning validations. In addition, BIOTECON Diagnostics has developed a standardized reference material, Allergen RM 800, to create a standard curve for exact quantification.

More allergen kits for the detection of mustard, sesame, lupine and crustacean will be developed next year. Also it is planned to develop multiplex kits, to detect up to three different allergen-parameters within one reaction.

Food allergens became more important, because the frequency in the population has grown in the last decades. The reasons are still not totally clear; often it is credited to changing environmental influences and diets. Even the smallest amounts of allergens can cause severe allergic reactions up to life-threatening symptoms. For the consumer, the only protection is avoidance. According to EU-regulation 2007/68/EG 14, different allergenic ingredients have to be labeled in Europe on the products. Until now there is no threshold value in Europe or elsewhere. Therefore, the zero tolerance rule applies, even foods that only contain traces of allergens have to be labeled accordingly.

Dr. Kornelia Berghof-Jäger, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Germany-based corporation BIOTECON Diagnostics therefore announced that „the expansion of our product portfolio by test kits for the detection of food allergens is a consequent continuation of our strategy to cover all aspects of food safety diagnostics bymolecular methods.“

„The new product line allows the users of our foodproof® system to enter new markets with the existing laboratory equipment without any additional financial investments.” emphasizes Alois Schneiderbauer, Chief Business Officer (CBO) of BIOTECON Diagnostics stated.

METTLER TOLEDO now offers a new family of high-precision weighing platforms that provide superior accuracy and reliability in harsh industrial conditions with flexibility to be used for many applications.

METTLER TOLEDO

The new PBK9 and PFK9 Weighing Platforms provide the rugged and reliable operation customers have come to expect from METTLER TOLEDO, paired with advanced technology for high-precision weighing.

Benefits of PBK9 and PFK9 Weighing Platforms include:

Outstanding accuracy: The platforms are ideally suited for all weighing processes in which quality is critical and tolerances need to be minimized.

Reliable performance: The platforms notify the operator when recalibration or adjustments are necessary due to environmental changes.

Versatile and Robust: The robust load cell with integrated overload protection and IP66/IP68 ingress protection makes the platforms suitable for a variety of challenging environments including wet areas, locations with heavy dust or workplaces that need regular cleaning.

The PBK9 and PFK9 Weighing Platforms virtually eliminate the impact of environmental interferences that cause errors and result in wasted ingredients or rejected batches. Advanced Monobloc and filter technology guarantees the highest precision and reliability possible.

In addition, the PBK9 and PFK9 weighing platforms are excellent standalone solutions and they also operate well as components in applications ranging from counting and formulating to filling. PBK9 and PFK9 Weighing Platforms offer multiple options, including mild, galvanized or stainless-steel for applications in wet, dusty, harsh or hazardous environments. Nine sizes and twelve capacities from 0.6 kilograms to 3 tons with resolutions up to 750,000 divisions respectively 30,000e (legal for trade) are available. All platforms can be connected to numerous METTLER TOLEDO terminals or directly connected to a control system.

New LabelMark™ 6 software takes the hassle out of designing and printing labels. With an improved user interface and app-based navigation combined with Brady’s proven interactive label creation and single-click importing and serialization, you have high performance label printing that has never been easier.

Gel-free. Blot-free. Hands-free. A Simple Western is the Western you know well, only simplified.

ProteinSimple

Gel-free. Blot-free. Hands-free.

A Simple Western is the Western you know well, only simplified. It is not a workaround to the existing process, a Western-like substitute, or a partial solution. It's the real thing, completely reinvented. We at ProteinSimple think that's something to get excited about!

Get your time back. Load your samples in Simon, Sally or Peggy, press start and go enjoy your new hands-free time. Come back a few hours later to fully analyzed results.Get more consistency. People introduce variability—we arehuman after all. Simple Westerns are fully automated, so they just give you more reproducible data.Get truly quantitative. Since blot transfer of proteins isn't needed, you can get straight to real, quantitative results.Get more efficient. Sometimes you can only squeeze out enough sample for one experiment. Simple Westerns require a lot less protein and antibody so you have enough for those replicates.

Novozymes Biopharma, part of Novozymes A/S world leader in bioinnovation, today announced that an ophthalmic solution made using its recombinant human albumin, has been approved for Phase I/II development by the FDA.

Designed by R-Tech Ueno, RU-101 ophthalmic solution is being trialled as a therapy for severe dry eye, for which no effective treatment is currently available. The recombinant human albumin is part of Novozymes Biopharma’s albumin range. Novozymes Biopharma has a strong reputation in the industry for helping customers in the safe and successful commercialization and approval of new products.

The prevalence of severe dry eye, where patients suffer from instability of the tear film, continues to increase. It is the most diagnosed of all ophthalmic disorders and estimates put the market at approximately 1.5 billion USD. The trials for RU-101 ophthalmic solution will move ahead in two stages, the first of which will assess safety using a placebo control, and allow confirmation of the maximum dose. The second stage will then use this maximum dose for 12 weeks to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of RU-101 ophthalmic solution.

Dermot Pearson, Marketing Director at Novozymes Biopharma said, “Novozymes is dedicated to supporting our customers in the drug development and testing stages, and in assisting with the optimisation of their pathways through regulatory approval procedures. We are therefore delighted that RU-101 ophthalmic solution has been approved for clinical testing.”

Novozymes Biopharma’s recombinant albumin is designed to provide quality performance benefits when included in drugs developed by our customers. It was selected as a key component of this novel therapy back in 2011, due to its proven high quality and enhanced safety profile. Animal-free, with an exceptional purity profile and convenient liquid format at room temperature, recombinant albumin delivers consistent levels of quality, leading to reduced lot testing and vendor auditing.

All Novozymes’ recombinant human albumins deliver stable, safe and regulatory compliant ingredients for drug delivery and formulation, and are compliant with the National Formulary (NF) rAlbumin human monograph published by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP).

TAP Biosystems, a leading supplier of innovative cell culture systems and consumables for life science applications, is pleased to announce it is installing a system to automate the ex-vivo expansion of autologous cell therapies (CellBase CT™) at Czech-based firm PrimeCell, one of Central and Eastern Europe’s largest regenerative medicine companies.

The CellBase CT system at PrimeCell will be used in their new GMP facility at the National Tissue Centre Inc to rapidly scale up their manual cell culture processes in T-flasks and will provide a fully-contained aseptic cell expansion area. This will allow scientists to manufacture multiple autologous cell therapies from many individual patients in parallel and will enable the company to supply clients, including regional transplant centres in the Czech Republic, with a range of clean autologous therapies.

Dr Ralph von Strandmann, TAP Biosystems' European Sales Manager stated: “With EU funding for new technologies, there has been an increasing interest in manufacturing biotechnology products in Central and Eastern Europe. This has led progressive companies here to realise that utilising efficient methods of manufacturing cell therapies will provide them with a significant advantage in this competitive sector.”

Dr. von Strandmann added: “We are pleased that PrimeCell will be using CellBase CT to automate expansion of their autologous stem cell therapies. It is an excellent, cost-efficient alternative to labour intensive manual cell culture and could help make autologous cell therapies less expensive and more widely accessible to patients in Central and Eastern Europe.”

Molecular Devices®, market leader in microplate reader technology for over 25 years, has announced the launch of its SpectraMax® i3 Multi-Mode Detection Platform with SpectraMax® MiniMax® Imaging Cytometer.

Molecular Devices

The system is available as a stand-alone reader with the option for users to upgrade to additional applications and detection modes such as cellular imaging with the SpectraMax® MiniMax™ Imaging Cytometer, and cartridges for Time-Resolved Fluorescence, Fluorescence Polarization, and AlphaScreen® assays. The highly sensitive instrument accommodates the budget and throughput needs of both small and large laboratories alike.

The SpectraMax i3 Platform's base system features an integrated optical system enabling top and bottom reads for 6 - 384 well microplates and launches with three broad detection modes: luminescence, absorbance, and fluorescence. Patented user-exchangeable cartridge design expands the system's detection capability making it highly versatile, and able to offer application options far exceeding those of standard readers. The MiniMax Imaging Cytometer module adds first of its kind cellular imaging to a multi-mode detection platform, enabling fluorescence and bright field cellular imaging. Combining cellular imaging with microplate-based applications offers new ways for scientists to compress their workflows and increase efficiency.

Data from the SpectraMax i3 System is captured and analysed using Molecular Devices' proprietary, industry-leading SoftMax® Pro Software. The newly updated interface and Spectral Optimization Wizard simplifies the workflow and provides powerful data analysis features, eliminating the need for training on additional software. The SpectraMax i3 System is also available for use in GMP and GLP labs when used with the SoftMax® Pro 6.3 GxP Microplate Data Compliance Software.

Klaus Lun, Vice President of Product Marketing at Molecular Devices commented: "This new platform builds on Molecular Devices' experience in life science detection instrumentation development and our commitment to bring additional utility to the microplate reader, further compressing the workflows for our customers. With the MiniMax Imaging Cytometer for cellular imaging, Molecular Devices introduces a new world of cell-based assay application possibilities to the microplate reader. We will continue to expand the platform's functionality by adding new capabilities to the microplate reader through the introduction of application-specific detection cartridges in 2013."

This dedicated analyzer is capable of analyzing 96 different samples simultaneously by parallel capillary gel electrophoresis with on-line, fixed wavelength UV absorbance detection. Preloaded and optimized separation and capillary conditioning methods simplify and streamline operation. The system can perform unattended analysis of up to 288 samples at once. Application-specific data analysis software provides automated or manual peak integration. The Oligo PRO™ is a proven technology used every day worldwide in production and research labs.

Key Features of the Oligo PRO™ System Include:

Low cost per sample.Unsurpassed throughput for oligo purity analysis!

Size-based, single nucleotide resolution from 10-mer to 80-mer lengths.

The GeneArt® CRISPR Nuclease mRNA is wild type Cas9 as mRNA, for genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Ready-to-transfect Cas9 mRNA circumvents the need for time-consuming cloning steps required when using CRISPR vector systems. Cas9 mRNA can be co-transfected with in vitro transcribed guide RNA (IVT gRNA) or a synthetic gRNA expression cassette containing U6 promoter. The gRNA expressing cassette and IVT gRNA template can be ordered as GeneArt® CRISPR Strings™ DNA, a 500 bp DNA fragment. Following transfection, the Cas9 protein is directed by gRNA to target specific genomic locus. This system allows multiplex genome editing, where multiple target gene sequences can be edited simultaneously in a single transfection reaction with the addition of multiple gRNAs. The system is versatile and simple to use, and changing target specificity only requires a change in the design of the GeneArt® CRISPR Strings™ DNA.

Partner-Events

Stockholm (SE)

Wien (A)

Product of the week

BioShake Series

The BioShake series contains high-speed mixer and thermal mixer for small and very small volumes in microplates and reaction tubes and allows for the first time high precise and efficient mixing in the microliter scale for a wide range of applications. more